Migrant flight heads to Guantanamo Bay as legal questions swirl around Trump plans
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Migrant Flights to Guantánamo Begin
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Above: Members of the US Military stand watch in a guard tower at dusk along the fence line of Camp Delta May 9, 2006 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Image copyright: Mark Wilson/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox Business on Tuesday that flights from the US to Guantánamo Bay with detained migrants have begun, without providing further details.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the first flight — from Fort Bliss, Texas, to the US Navy base in Cuba — was scheduled to depart on Tuesday afternoon with about a dozen migrants on board.
This comes as Pres. Donald Trump last week signed a memorandum directing the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to prepare Guantánamo to host up to 30K "high-priority criminal [illegal] aliens" as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration.
The Spin
Republican narrative
Two weeks into office, the Trump administration has persuaded Latin American nations to accept their people back and prepared Guantánamo to receive tens of thousands of criminal aliens. These are just the initial first steps to address the migration crisis and secure US borders.
Democratic narrative
Trump's disgraceful plan to fly migrants to the Guantánamo detention has begun — and the situation could get worse soon as El Salvador has agreed to house US prisoners, including US citizens, in its infamous super-jail. Human rights violations are sure to take place there but the Trump administration doesn't care.
